The Foxtel Group today announced it has identified approximately $4 million in underpayments to current and former staff and has committed to ensuring everyone affected receives their full entitlements including interest and superannuation as soon as possible.
A review of remuneration practices between July 2014 and November 2020, found an incorrect application of employee entitlements and award coverage in our payroll information systems, which has resulted in underpayments to some employees.
All affected current and former staff will receive their full entitlements, including back payments with interests and superannuation. The total amount of underpayments is about $4 million across 300 current and 1900 former staff. Most individual payments are below $500. Current employees will begin receiving payments next week.
Foxtel Group Chief People Officer Sally Connell said: “On behalf of the Foxtel Group, I want to express how very sorry we are this happened. We are committed to paying everyone affected back in full with superannuation and interest. We are also completing a full update of our payroll systems, strengthening our processes, and having them independently audited to make sure we have all the right controls in place going forward.”
“After seeing similar issues in other companies, in late 2020, we commissioned independent experts to audit our remuneration practices for the previous seven years. The audit identified potential issues, and in 2021 we conducted a more detailed review of compliance with employee entitlement obligations with the assistance of external experts,” Ms Connell said.
“We self-reported the matter to the Fair Work Ombudsman in late 2021. The Company has worked openly and constructively with the Ombudsman throughout the process.”
All affected current employees will be contacted directly by a member of the Foxtel Group HR team.
When the necessary feedback has been received from the Fair Work Ombudsman, we will be writing to affected former employees to let them know what’s happened, confirm their latest banking details, and then arrange to pay them. Former employees can also email us using foxtelremediation@foxtel.com.au.
More information is available in Frequently Asked Questions.